


Promises.

by kins90



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-26
Updated: 2013-03-26
Packaged: 2017-12-06 15:18:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/737138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kins90/pseuds/kins90
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's their one year anniversary. Harry forgets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises.

“Louis… Why is our bed bouncing? I don’t remember falling asleep on a bouncy castle.” Harry grumbled into his pillow, desperately trying to chase the last trace of sleep before it left him, to no avail. “Harry, wake up you lazy git!” Louis exclaimed. Harry opened his right eye, before turning to lay on his back and look at his boyfriend, who was bouncing up and down on their bed like an excited two-year-old at a birthday party. “Louis, seriously. Why are you bouncing about at…” Harry paused to check the alarm clock on their dresser before proceeding. “11am on our day off? I’m fairly certain we’re supposed to take advantage of having a day off by spending the entire day sleeping, eating junk in front of the telly while drinking beer, then repeating the action. Why am I awake on my day off, boo?” Harry pouted. Louis ceased his bouncing and grinned down at Harry before climbing off the bed. Harry propped himself up on his elbow, and Louis knelt beside the bed. He threaded a hand through the younger boy’s curls as he leaned forward and pressed a soft, gentle kiss to Harry’s lips, before standing up to leave the room. “What was that for?“ Harry smiled through his confusion. “Happy anniversary babe.” Louis beamed, before slipping out of their bedroom. Harry sighed as he flopped back down on the bed. Their anniversary was today? Fuck. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I’m not kidding Harold, if I have to shout you one more time I’m gonna come up there and kick your arse! Hurry up!” Harry heard the older boy shout as he sauntered down the stairs. He rolled his eyes and smiled as he began to walk towards their living room, but stopped in his tracks when his nose picked up the smell of bacon. Bacon? Harry frowned. Louis can’t cook… He raised an eyebrow and turned towards the kitchen, pausing in the doorway as his mouth dropped at the sight before him. The table was set out properly, with their best tablecloth covering it. In the middle was a vase full of different coloured roses. Plates of food were scattered around the table: bacon, various different kinds of egg, toast, sausages, tomatoes - everything you’d find in a typical full English breakfast, except for baked beans, of course. “What’s the matter curly, cat got your tongue?” Louis winked at his boyfriend as he beckoned the younger boy to join him. “Louis, what’s this? Did you do all of this yourself?” Harry asked, as he walked towards the table and sat down. “Yeah, I did. I mean, the bacon’s a bit crispy and the toast’s a little bit burnt cos I got a bit sidetracked with the sausages and the egg, but yeah, it should all be edible!” Louis explained, looking as pleased as he felt with himself. “But… when did you learn to cook?” Harry asked, as he started to dish himself some breakfast. “You know how I’ve been hanging out with Tom a lot? Well, him and Lou have both been teaching me how to cook so I could make you an anniversary breakfast. You always cook for me Curly, I thought the least I could do was learn how to do it myself so that I can repay the favour every now and again.” Louis said, biting into a piece of bacon. “I’ve known you just over two years now, and you still never cease to amaze me.” Harry confessed. “Aww, thanks babe. Now dig in, before it gets cold!” Louis told him, before tucking into his breakfast. Harry stared at Louis with absolute wonderment, before silently chuckling to himself and digging into his own breakfast. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Shortly after they’d finished their breakfast, the buzzer sounded to alert them that they had a visitor. Harry jumped up to answer the door, and found Zayn leaning against the doorframe. “Vas’appenin lovebirds?” He winked as Harry held the door open for him and he walked into their apartment. “Alright Zayn?” Louis smiled. “This is from me and the boys, who wants it?” Zayn asked, holding up a white envelope. Harry shrugged and took the envelope from his hands as they sat on the sofa. “We didn’t know what to get you, so we didn’t bother!” The Bradford boy told them, as he flashed them his trademark cheeky grin. “Ah, no worries mate! As long as I’ve got Harry, you guys, and my family, I don’t need anything else.” Louis said, as he pulled Harry in for a kiss. Zayn turned to Harry and raised his eyebrow. “Alright, who’s this sloppy bastard and what’s he done with the real Louis?” He asked, and Harry snorted. “I’m serious! Right, I need to pop out for a bit. Zayn, are you alright to stick around for a while?” Louis asked, flashing Zayn a quick grin as Harry focused his attention on the card they’d received from their band mates. Zayn flashed him a quick wink. “Oh yeah man, no problem. I’m sure I can find ways to keep Harry occupied while you’re out!” He joked. “Oi, hands off my man, Malik!” Louis scowled as he stood up and slipped his TOMs onto his feet. “Hey, they call me the Bradford bad boi for a reason you know! Nah, I’m joking. Go on, get off. We’ll watch a film or something, right Haz?” Zayn suggested, nudging the younger boy with his elbow. “Yeah, yeah whatever, I don’t mind. Lou, you’re not gonna be long are you? It’s our anniversary!” Harry pouted. “I promise, I’ll be as quick as I can! See you later Curly! Bye Zayn!” Louis waved, as he pressed a brief kiss to each boy’s cheek before heading down the hall and out the door. 

Harry stood and placed the card on their mantle-piece beside Jay, Anne and Gemma’s cards and casually walked over to the door to make sure Louis had really left. When Harry was certain he was gone, he turned to Zayn. “Zayn! We need to go, now! I didn’t realise it was our fucking anniversary! I haven’t even got him a card, never mind a present!” He exclaimed, pulling at his curls as he tried to rack his brains for gift ideas. “How do you not know when your anniversary is, man?” Zayn frowned. “Well, it’s complicated! Its not something we’ve ever actually really discussed! It could’ve been April 17th, cos that’s the anniversary of our first kiss at Courchevel when we went skiing with Stan and Will, It could’ve been the first time we said ‘I love you’ and actually meant it, but no.” Harry huffed, throwing his arms up in exasperation. “So what happened on August 26th?” Zayn enquired. Harry dipped his head and smiled to himself as a pink blush spread across his cheeks. “Leeds Festival.” He replied quietly.

“Right! And we all know what happened that weekend, cos you came back with the hickeys to prove it!” Zayn teased. “Alright, alright! Enough of the teasing! Come on Zayn, we need to go.” Harry said, grabbing for the older boy’s arm to pull him out of his seat. Zayn resisted, reaching inside his jacket instead revealing another card. “What’s this?” Harry frowned as Zayn handed it to him. “Daddy direction thought you might’ve forgotten, so he made sure to get you a card.” Zayn smiled triumphantly. “Liam? Sometimes I honestly don’t know what We’d do without him! I don’t suppose he got a present as well, did he?” Harry joked, but Zayn just grinned. “He got a present as well?” Harry asked. Zayn fumbled through his pockets, taking a few seconds before he found what he was looking for. “Catch!” Zayn instructed, throwing the present to the younger boy. “Oh my god, this is perfect!” Harry gasped. “Well, you know Liam, ever the perfectionist. I’m gonna make a brew, do you want one?” Zayn offered before heading into the kitchen. Harry nodded in response, as he continued to stare in awe at the gift. He owed Liam, big time. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“Zayn, not that I don’t enjoy your company, but a movie marathon with you isn’t really what I’d envisioned for my one-year anniversary.” Harry sighed as he removed Scarface from the DVD player. “Mate, you didn’t even know it was your anniversary!” Zayn retorted. “Well, so what? Just because I didn’t realise that it was this exact date, doesn’t mean I hadn’t thought about what we were going to do for it. Look, this is all irrelevant. Now are you gonna explain what’s going on? Louis said he was ‘popping out for a bit.’ - that was hours ago! We‘ve managed to watch Love Actually, Scarface *and* a couple of episodes of The Bachelor in between.” Harry huffed as he sat beside Zayn on the sofa. “I’d love to tell you Haz, but I’m sworn to secrecy! All I can tell you is that I’m under strict instructions to not let you leave this apartment until Louis calls and tells me you can.” Zayn shrugged, giving his younger friend a sympathetic smile. “This sucks.” Harry concluded, folding his arms and letting his head drop back onto the sofa with a soft thud. “Haz, it’s a few hours yeah? Chill out man.” Zayn sighed, as he dug into his pocket to retrieve his phone. His jaw dropped slightly, and he risked a sneaky glance at Harry, who immediately noticed. “Zayn… Please tell me Louis didn’t call.” Harry warned. “I must’ve caught a button or something... My phone’s on silent. Hey, it could happen to anyone…” Zayn gulped nervously, as he noticed the daggers that the curly haired boy was shooting him.

He stood swiftly and grabbed his leather jacket from the back of the sofa. “Right, I’m outta here. Louis said you need to go and meet him by the stairs up to the roof.” The Bradford boy explained, shrugging himself into his jacket. “The stairs? Why?” Harry frowned, as he tried to rack his brain for any reason that might require him to pay a visit to the roof of their apartment building. “Well, if you move your arse, you might find out! Go on! I‘ll lock up after myself.” Zayn insisted, pulling the younger boy off of the sofa to usher him out of the apartment. “Alright. Hey Zayn, thanks for keeping me company. And, if you see Liam, tell him I said thanks for the card and the present. Ill square it out with him the next time I see him.” Harry explained, before taking in a shaky breath. “How do I look?” He asked, shaking his hair out in typical Harry fashion, before smoothing a hand down the non-existent creases in his shirt. “Like a terrified 14-year-old who’s about to lose his virginity. It’s Louis, you have no need to be nervous! Now go on!” Zayn urged, before opening the front door, shoving Harry out of his own apartment, and slamming the door shut so that the younger boy couldn’t get back in. Harry chuckled to himself as he made his way up the stairs, silently praying that Louis had his own key so that they’d be able to get back into the apartment. 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

When Harry reached the final floor, he found his boyfriend sitting on the steps to the roof, waiting for him. “Hey Curly, what took you so long?” Louis smiled, standing from his spot. “Zayn accidentally had his phone on silent so he not only missed your call, but didn’t see the texts you sent him. And we were watching scarface, you know how engrossed he gets when he watched that.” Harry chuckled, shoving his hands in his pockets. “So, what are we doing up here?” Harry didn’t miss the mischievous glint in the older boy’s eyes as his hands disappeared behind his back. “You trust me, right Haz?” Louis enquired. “Of course I do!” Harry answered automatically, not even having to think about the answer. “Good.” Louis smiled, pulling a blindfold from the back pocket of his chinos. Harry frowned in confusion. “I don’t wanna ruin the surprise, so, I brought a blindfold! Turn around!” Louis instructed. Harry turned so that the older boy could tie the blindfold around his eyes. The day was getting stranger and stranger by the second, but Louis’ face resembled that of a child in a sweetshop. Who was Harry to wipe that beautiful smile off of his face? Satisfied that the blindfold was secured around his boyfriend’s face, Louis turned Harry to face him. The curly haired boy stumbled a little, reaching out to cling onto Louis. “Ive got you babe, don’t worry. Now, can you see me?” Louis questioned, contorting his face into the weirdest shape he could think of, while poking his tongue out of his mouth. Harry was half tempted to say yes just to annoy the older boy, but he seemed to be going to a lot of trouble to make sure everything was perfect, so he resisted the urge, shaking his head instead.

Louis carefully and slowly navigated the younger boy up the stairs toward the roof. When they stopped, Louis moved away from him to unlock the door and Harry felt himself sway a little with the lack of support. As the door opened, the smell of barbecued food hit Harry’s nostrils and his stomach growled in appreciation, while his ears registered that somewhere in the background, We Are The Ocean were singing out through the speakers. Louis walked them forwards, before taping a ‘Do not disturb’ sign on the inner door, proceeding to close and lock it. “I remember these guys, they played at Leeds last year, right?” Harry asked, as he felt Louis stand behind him. “Yeah, they did babe. So… Are you ready for your anniversary present?” Louis asked, feeling like a million butterflies were going to rip their way out of his stomach at any given moment. He wanted this to be perfect, and he just hoped Harry liked it. “Yeah I’m ready, boo.” Harry replied. Louis slipped the blindfold from his boyfriend’s eyes, and Harry squinted for a few seconds to let his eyes adjust to the brightness of the light.

To the left of him, sausages, burgers and all sorts of different foods were being flame-grilled on a barbecue. Posters of various different bands were on the wall beside them. Then Harry’s confusion grew even further. To the right of them, was a large, green tent. From what Harry could see, there was a blanket on the ground of the inside of it, and also their sleeping bags. Harry turned his head to look at the older boy. “Louis, what’s going on, what is this?” He smiled, through his confusion. The answer was probably obvious, but Harry was too confused to care. “Well, you’re going to think I’m really cheesy… Erm, I got us tickets to go back to Leeds Festival, but management said we couldn’t risk it because we’re a lot more easily recognisable now than we were last year. But… I wanted to take you back there for our anniversary cos, you know, it meant a lot to me. Not just because it was the first time that we had sex, but, you know… That was when I realised exactly how much I loved you, and that I probably wouldn’t mind too much if you were the only person I’d be with for the rest of my life. So, yeah. I thought, if we couldn’t go to Leeds, I’d bring Leeds to us.” Louis explained, wringing his hands together nervously. Harry didn’t respond, simply standing there with an unreadable expression on his face. Louis gulped and started chewing on his lip.

“You did all this… for me?” The younger boy asked. Louis nodded. “Why?” Harry frowned. “Well, because it’s our anniversary. And I love you more than anything else in the world. So… yeah. I mean, we can, I can find something else for us to do, if you don’t like it…” Louis babbled, but Harry stepped forward and silenced the older boy, pressing their lips together as he wrapped his arms around Louis’ waist. “Like it? I Love it. It’s so thoughtful. Louis Tomlinson, you are the most incredible man I’ve ever known, and I love you so, so much.” Harry told him, as he lifted one of his hands to stroke Louis’ cheek. “Are you sure you like it? I just wanted to make you happy.” Louis mumbled, looking up at Harry with an uncertain expression. “Babe, knowing I’ll be waking up in your arms every morning makes me happy. You make me happy, Louis. Everything else is a bonus.” Harry reassured him. 

He took the older boy’s hand and led them into the tent, before sitting down and crossing his legs. Louis followed suit, and zipped the tent up, before turning to watch the younger boy fidget with his hands in his lap. “Harry, what’s wrong?” Louis asked, placing his own hands over Harry’s to still the movements. “Erm, I’m just kind of nervous about giving you your present…” Harry paused, clearing his throat, before handing Louis the little black box that had a white bow wrapped around it. Louis looked from Harry, to the box, before looking back at the curly haired boy. “Harry…” Louis said, knowing what was in the box, but not quite knowing what to say. “No, no! Its not like that! Well, it is, but… It isn’t. Just open it, then I’ll explain.” Harry told him. Louis bit his lip as he undid the ribbon and opened the box. Inside, was a relatively plain silver band. Louis took it from the box to take a closer look, and noticed an inscription on the inside. Always and forever .xx Louis took a shaky, deep breath as he blinked back tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. He swallowed and tried to clear the tightness in his throat, before looking back at Harry for an explanation. “So, I know you can’t wear it. Well, not on your finger anyway, it’d probably have to be on a chain around your neck or something… Erm… So yeah, um, basically… I know you’re not ready to go public yet, and that’s okay, I guess. But I know you get scared that I’ll get sick of all the hiding and leave you. So… I got you this promise ring. No matter how frustrated I get with having to hide us from the world, I understand why we have to keep it a secret, and I promise I’m never gonna leave you. I promise that no matter what rumours fly at us, and what challenges we have to go through, I’ll always stand by you. I promise I’m gonna marry you some day. I promise to love you, and nobody else, for the rest of my life.” Harry finished, looking up nervously to gauge Louis’ reaction, only to find that tears were streaming down the face of the older boy.

“No, no, no! Why are you crying?” Harry asked, leaning forward to cup the older boy’s face in his hands and brush away his tears with his thumbs. “It’s beautiful, Harry. It’s perfect. You’re perfect. And… I think we should do it.” Louis told the younger boy. “Way to ruin the moment, Lou. I was going down the romantic route and you just went and…” Harry joked, but Louis interrupted him. “No, not that, you twat! Although, if you wanna do that too, you won’t hear any complaints from me… No, I mean… I think we should do it, go public. I’m tired of hiding. I love you, I want everyone to know that you’re mine and no-one else’s.” Louis explained. “Do… do you really mean that? What about management? The fans?” Harry frowned. “I mean it Haz. Fuck management, I don’t care about them. As for the fans… Well, they’re brilliant and I love them, but nothing’s changed, we‘re still the same people. And if they can’t support the fact that we’re in love, well, frankly we’re better off without them.” Louis sniffled. “As long as you’re sure.” Harry told him, not wanting the older boy to feel pressured. “I’m sure. As long as we’ve got each other, that’s all that matters. Always and forever, right?” Louis asked, slipping the ring onto his finger. The curly boy nodded. “Always and forever.” He promised.


End file.
